Tillmouth Park (also known as Tillmouth Park Country House Hotel)

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

Early and late 19th-century picturesque pleasure grounds and formal gardens, including the remodelling of mid- to late 18th-century parkland, and a medieval castle.

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Tillmouth Park lies 17.5 km south-west from Berwick-on-Tweed, on the A698, Cornhill-on-Tweed to Berwick-on-Tweed road. Lying on the south bank of the River Till, the park is set on a 'haugh' or alluvial terrace, with steep rocky outcrops leading down to the river along part of its northern length. The Till is a tributary of the River Tweed, the pleasure grounds extending 1.5km westwards along the river to the confluence of the Till and Tweed, with a second area of pleasure grounds leading along the Dean Burn. The Dean Burn is a small tributary of the Till which leads through the south part of Tillmouth Park to join the Till c 120 m north-west of Twizel Mill.

The designed landscape here registered includes c 60 ha of Tillmouth Park on the west bank of the Till from Twizel Mill, northwards to Twizel Bridge (C15, listed grade I). It includes the riverside walk/pleasure grounds that extend along the Till, on the left bank, this southern route leading through Nut Wood as far as the dismantled railway. On the north side of the Till a further 35 ha of pleasure grounds extends from north of Twizel Bridge to a lane north of Twizel Castle (listed grade II*). The northern route, which takes in the dramatic and picturesque rock outcrops on which the ruins of Twizel Castle stand, leads westwards along St Helen's Bank, then northwards to the Twizel Boathouse. The boundary follows the lane westwards, then at the point that the lane leads northwards to Twizel Stead, the boundary follows a hedgeline westwards to meet the shelter belt of Twizel Castle walled garden. The west boundary of Tillmouth Park extends southwards from Nut Wood along the Castle Heaton Road and over the Stotford Bridge to then turn eastwards at the Henlaw Tunnel. The southern boundary then passes on the south side of the kitchen garden to Twizel Mill.

Entrances and Approaches

The main entrance leads through a pair of twin gate lodges and a gateway (early C19, listed grade II) set c 400 m west-south-west of the House, directly on the east side of the A698. The drive then forks, the left-hand, northern route leading north-east through woodland to reach the north front of the House. Now a drive for vehicular traffic, it appears to have originally been a walk (OS 1865).

The right-hand fork also leads north-eastwards, for most of its route parallel to the former, although they are screened from each other by a high embankment planted with evergreens. The embankment may represent the route of the public road pre-1810. This southern route leads past a carriage house, dovecote, and estate cottages (1825, listed grade II), 180 m west of the House, before curving southwards to the west facade of the mansion. Between the carriage house and the mansion the drive is lined by a castellated wall (c 1810, listed grade II).

A track leads northwards from the gate lodge, passing around the perimeter of the park and, south of Twizel Bridge, along the top of Tilmouth Bank by the river. It then leads to the site of the southern kitchen garden, on the south boundary of the area here registered.

To the north of Twizel Bridge a drive which led northwards to the north-east tower of Twizel Castle is now a track. This then joins up 100 m west of Twizel Castle with a lane leading to Twizel Steading and Twizel Castle walled garden. The latter lies c 500 m west of Twizel Castle.

Principal Building

Tillmouth Park House (c 1810, listed grade II) was rebuilt in 1882 to designs by Charles Barry junior. It is in Elizabethan style and incorporates many interior details from the earlier house of c 1810.

Twizell Castle (listed grade II*) incorporates the masonry of a medieval castle, and was started in c 1770 to designs by Nisbet of Kelso.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

The gardens and pleasure grounds comprise c 3 ha at Tillmouth Park House, together with a further 9ha along the banks of the River Till.

Lawns to the north of the House give views over the park, with a garden pavilion (late C19/early C20, listed grade II) located 54 m from the House, at the north-east corner of the lawns. An L-shaped grass embankment leads northwards and then westwards from the House, in between the entrance drives (see above). It is now wooded, although previously the easternmost section was open with views out onto the north park over to Twizel Castle (OS 1865).

The site of formal gardens lies 35 m to the south-west of the House, enclosed by convex quadrant castellated walls to north and south. The walls originally framed a vista from the west front of the House, eastwards to a fountain backed with an evergreen yew hedge (OS 1865). The north wall is set with a carriage arch (c 1810, listed grade II), the arch later infilled with an apsidal back to form an arbour. That to the south is also pierced by an arch (both c 1810, listed grade II) which leads southwards to a series of formal walks leading to The Dean.

'The Dean' pleasure grounds, laid out on either side of the Dean Burn, are reached by a long walk leading southwards from the formal gardens. At their west boundary, against the south park, the walk leads across the Burn on Stotford Bridge (c 1810, listed grade II). The bridge is gothick in style with castellated parapets. On the south side of the bridge the walk leads into the Henlaw Tunnel (c 1810, listed grade II), 1.2 m wide, 2 m high and 30 m long. This round tunnel vault is set into an artificial mound but its function is unclear. Hen Law itself is a knoll, which was planted with a clump (OS 1865). The southern walk of The Dean then leads eastwards to the walled garden, situated at the south-east corner of the registered area.

To the north of Twizel Castle an area of earthworks remain from the ground-modelling associated with the landscaping of a formal approach to the Castle. To the south of the Castle, alongside the Till, are a dramatic series of rocky cliffs and low caves which were exploited for their picturesque impact.

Kitchen Garden

A kitchen garden 500 m to the west of Twizel Castle stands on the top of an escarpment overlooking the Till. It is walled on its north side by a stone, vented wall with a range of bothies and gardener's house on the north side of the wall. The garden was operated as Twizel Nursery (OS 1926), but is now (2003) planted with broadleaved native trees and is no longer a nursery. A kitchen garden existed to the south-east of Tillmouth Park House, to the south of The Dean (OS 1865); it is now pasture and woodland.

Park

Tillmouth Park, some 45 ha, is enclosed by a stone boundary wall and sheltered by a belt of perimeter planting on all sides apart from the riverside boundary. There are two distinct areas of parkland, both planted with clumps, to north and south of the central spine of woodland, which shelters the entrance drives and formal L-shaped embankment (see above). The north park slopes gently north-east down to Twizel Bridge, a high single-span bridge over the River Till set in a picturesque wooded glen at the park's north-east corner. There are picturesque views of Twizel Castle, set on a ridge appearing over a dense woodland belt to the north of the river.

The south park is similar in aspect to the north but is divided along its north perimeter from the formal gardens by a ha-ha, now partially filled in and elsewhere screened from Tillmouth Park House by recent hedge planting. The Dean projects westwards into the south park dividing the major part of it from Hen Law, the southernmost section of parkland.

Description written: October 2001

Amended: March 2003

Edited: July 2003